Woman found dead at vacant concrete plant in Exeter

EXETER — Police are treating the discovery of a body in Exeter Thursday as a suspicious death, according to a New Hampshire State Police spokeswoman.

EXETER — Police are investigating a suspicious death in Exeter, where a woman's body was discovered inside an abandoned concrete plant that caught fire Thursday morning.

The fire broke out at the former City Concrete building at 2 Hampton Road at about 7 a.m. Emergency responders located the body of an unidentified adult female while knocking down the blaze, according to an announcement released by the New Hampshire attorney general's office.

The body was found inside the roughly 3,000-square-foot facility, which has been vacant for at least two decades, according to the town assessor.

Investigators are still probing the circumstances, and police were tight-lipped about the grim discovery throughout the day.

The state medical examiner's office was set to perform an autopsy Friday morning to determine the cause and manner of the woman's death, and to attempt to make a positive identification of her remains.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell declined to comment on the condition of the woman's body prior to the autopsy.

Caitlyn Lussier, an employee of nearby Access Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics, recalled seeing smoke rising from the old concrete building at about 6:45 a.m. Fire trucks were on scene within about 15 minutes, she said.

Throughout the day, investigators focused their attention on a gray Hyundai, which was parked in the entryway to the 11.8-acre property. Lussier recalled that the car was parked outside the building before the fire, visible through an office window.

Police surrounded the Hyundai with crime scene tape in the morning and eventually covered the vehicle with a tent, as wet snow continued to fall.

In addition to collecting evidence inside the building, investigators also searched the grounds of the Exeter Recreation Complex, which is next door to the concrete facility. They inspected a dumpster in the parking lot at least twice, and four officers also swept across the perimeter of the parking lot, eyes pointed toward the pavement.

Another twist in the investigation came at about 10 a.m. A man in a brown jacket was seen speaking to police in the Access Sports Medicine parking lot. Two officers could be seen frisking the man at one point, though it remains unclear why.

Morrell declined to comment on whether the man in the brown jacket was investigated in connection with the discovery at the concrete plant.

Investigators were also seen photographing a black Honda sedan parked in the Access Sports Medicine parking lot, which is across the street. The Honda had New Hampshire license plates and a Hampton parking sticker in the window.

Two State Troopers wearing purple gloves scrutinized the car for more than 40 minutes, taking photographs of the interior, exterior, trunk and undercarriage of the car before departing.

No fire damage was visible on the outside of the concrete plant, which was constructed in 1950, according to the town assessor's records. The structure is owned by Wakefield Investments Inc., registered out of Wakefield, Mass.

Exeter Police and firefighters were among the first personnel to reach the scene. By noon, the New Hampshire attorney general's office became active in the investigation, and a truck from the State Police Major Crimes Unit arrived soon after.

State Troopers were still documenting evidence at the scene about four hours later, along with officials from the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's office.

Fire investigators were tentatively planning to provide information about the incident around 11 a.m., but as activity increased at the scene, they scrapped the plan.

"It's a whole different thing right now," an official from the fire marshal's office said in the early afternoon.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the New Hampshire State Police at 603-271-3636.